Silence Falls

Everyone took off in a full-blown race for their lives. Onika, Natasha, Alexis and Demetria joined hands to try to remain together among the arduous foliage and sinkhole booby traps. Bert, Bam Cris, and Connor tried to keep the girls ahead of them, so they wouldn't be in any jeopardy of getting captured first.

Hermanni slowed down as he came to an outright halt unnoticeable to anyone else. He observed intently to only what he could hear and only what he could see. A giant vehicle was approaching a mile away, something like an RV except densely armored with several satellite dishes stretching skyward on the top. The vehicle stopped a few feet away from him and out it’s door came streaming even more military garmented men, a few popped out from the top of the RV hoisting lengthier guns with greater barrels. Reading that these particular men would cause much carnage including to those of his family, Hermanni narrowed his eyes as they began to gleam with determination.

The other patients that had also emerged from the Facility after the kids broke out and were darting alongside them promptly made a U-turn back towards the same direction as the RV in unison, tearing right past Hermanni. Bert and his friends kept going, barely affording them a glimpse since they didn't have sufficient oxygen to debate where they were going. The military men that were on foot traveled in various directions into the woods, executing every living person. The men atop the RV arranged themselves on their stomach with their guns braced up on the edge of the vehicle, spying down the scopes of their sniper rifles to pinpoint a target. At first there was only a young pale man with shoulder-length ebony hair and remarkable colored eyes looking up at them from within the swamps. Snickering to himself at how accessible a target he made, he focused his crossfire at his head, and fired several rounds from his rifle. Hermanni lifted a lone pale hand towards them, instantaneously pausing the long destructive bullets before they even got to him.

The sniper gaped in bewilderment at his colleagues who also witnessed this phenomenon. What in the world? Positive they all had to be experiencing the same illusion, the club of snipers simultaneously aimed down their barrels at the boy and launched more bullets towards him only the bullets never made it to their mark. Each one halted a few inches from the palm of his hand. Hermanni proceeded to suspend every single bullet they sent his way until he was left with a collection of hovering bullets in front of him. When the soldiers finally ceased firing altogether, Hermanni stared down at the batch of ammo and turned each bullet around with his mind, so they now faced the agents instead on both the ground and atop the vehicle. Blowing delicately, Hermani induced the bullets to rocket forward and take down every sniper sprawled on the RV as well as four men traipsing through the swamp that just discovered Hermanni. With a smile, Hermanni trekked off into the swamps to handle the rest of the men that were unlucky enough to cross his path.

As Otep and her friends continued to sprint, they couldn't help but take note of the piercing repetitions of gunshots going off from time to time and that the other patients were making some form of wall in a close knit formation behind them and alongside them, leaving them safeguarded but themselves open to the sailing bullets whizzing past them. Otep and Bert shared a brisk glance but chose to concentrate on their running considering those soldiers that came out of nowhere were still firing at them. It was too outlandish of a theory anyway that it looked to them like the senseless patients were shielding them from the bullets by using their own bodies as sacrifice. If the bullets could still reach us from wherever these soldiers are, these patients would be the first to die if they continued to keep us shielded like this...they have to know that right despite how nuts they are, Otep contemplated within her mind.

A whistle up ahead seized their attention making everyone come to a standstill, including the frenzied patients. Hermanni stood gesturing for them to follow him deeper into the swamps. No one challenged him as they hastily followed, the other patients extending off in uncoordinated directions like ants and dissipated from sight. A few yards ahead, Bert and the others finally came across a campsite encompassed by some enormous boulders. Everyone disintegrated to the ground simultaneously, gasping for breath. Hermanni lifted his head towards the sky, listening sharply for danger as his eyes began to glow again. At his will, the swamp became overshadowed with a sudden impenetrable fog, making it hard to see anything. As stinky as the swamp was it accommodated untold hiding places and sinkhole traps. Oddly, no one had crashed into any of these traps. “How did you find this campsite, Hermanni?” Alexis inquired, scrutinizing the abandoned algae covered backpacks and camping equipment that were in splendid working quality.

Hermanni glanced at her and smiled as he spoke in his heavy accented voice. “Run. Camp here.”

“Do you...do you know how to form sentences, Hermanni?” Cris asked, needing to get into the conversation to keep his mind from losing its stability over what just happened in the swamps.

“Senti-” Hermanni tried to slowly pronounce, frowning down at the ground as everyone probed through the campsite supplies for anything they could use as weapons.

Bam straightened from where he’d been picking through the fireplace. He also needed a distraction. “Sentences, you know? A complete sentence rather than your random out of placed words. English, do you know English?”

Hermanni understood very little of what Bam said, and so he gradually shook his head in response. Cris frowned to himself also needing this conversation as an interference from reality. “That's weird how I’ve really noticed that before. I guess with all the excitement and fear of escaping at the time it wasn’t really that noteworthy at the time…”

Bert and Otep crawled out from one of three tents and strode to the campfire to join the others. “Alright, we're gonna have to park it here for the night. I don't hear any more gun shots so I think we might be in the safe zone, of course we can't be sure. We have some canned food, and fresh water to last us at least for tonight and maybe even tomorrow. We also found some sleeping bags for a few of us and of course this campfire to keep us warm.”

“Are you sure a fire is a good idea? They could pinpoint us with it.” Cris said.

“I’d agree, but Church is tomorrow which means for the whole day EVERYONE is going to be in church until three in the morning. This town is full of real church lovers that take their fucked up religion dangerously serious.” Otep assured him.

“Then what's the plan for tomorrow?” Connor inquired, relaxing on the wet ground.

"Well, I guess we can look through the swamp for some actual shelter, and some look out points to find out where we are. Hell, weapons might actually be a good place to start looking right now.” Bert said, making everyone groan from lethargy. “Oh c'mon, they might still be in the swamps! Weapons will give us a fighting chance!”

"Goddamnit!" Bam growled as he and the others got up to scan for rocks and sticks nearby.